“We fill up for nothing!”
That was the general cry from many residents across three parishes yesterday regarding the announced 26-hour outage for scheduled maintenance which the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) had said would run from 8 p.m. Sunday to 10 o’clock last night. The work took place at the Ionics Freshwater Ltd. on Spring Garden, St Michael, which augments the St Stephen’s Reservoir.
The BWA last Friday advised people and businesses in St Michael, St Thomas and St James to store water in the event of a water outage.
Anderson Connell, who lives on Black Rock Main Road, St Michael, said he filled up yesterday morning, but when he left home the taps still had water.
“I got buckets, I got drums, I got all types of things that I fill up yesterday [Sunday], but the water ain’t went off. When I left home at 7:30 the water was still on,” he said.
A woman, who did not give her name, but said she lived in Bayville, noted her taps were still flowing when she left for work yesterday morning.
“The water was still on when I left. I fill up water, but I will have to use it to throw in the washing machine instead,” she said.
A vendor on Swan Street, The City, who identified himself as Tommy, said he didn’t understand why the BWA advised residents to fill up when the water remained on.
“It have water all about. Water on in ’Town and is business as usual. I don’t know why they ask people to fill up and the water ain’t went off,” he said.
There was a short interruption of water supply at Scotiabank, Broad Street, while work was being done on a burst main just outside the building.
Businesses along the Warrens, Green Hill, Lodge Hill stretch all remained open as usual, as did those as far as Sunset Crest in St James.
Early yesterday morning, Courts on St George Street, The City, announced it would be closed to business, while its facility on Spring Garden closed at noon.
Managing director at Courts, Trisha Tannis, said management took the decision in the interest of staff and customers.
“This has resulted in the closure of our store in Bridgetown. However, I hasten to add that it has not affected trading outside of Bridgetown, and our other locations remain open for business as usual. But certainly the major location has been closed in the interest of the sanitary conditions of our staff members.
“The concerns obviously would be the timing of the shutdown, and particularly at this time of year getting into the peak of the trading season, and that’s the only challenge we would have had. But in the interest of our staff and our customers, we took that decision,” she told Starcom Network.
Similarly, all Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) offices across the island stopped receiving payments at 1 p.m. and closed fully at 2.
Manager, communications and public relations at the BRA, Carolyn Williams-Gale, she said the shutdown was done in an effort to preserve sanitary conditions of both staff and the general public.
“The decision to close all our locations was taken in an abundance of caution, and the sanitary conditions . . . for both staff and the public at our locations.
“The majority of our locations would have been impacted on the information that was sent out,” she explained.
The University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill campus also closed its doors and cancelled all scheduled classes yesterday. (RA)
